"The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press." - Ida B. Wells-Barnett, journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, feminist and founder with others of NAACP.

Y'all have inspired me to break out the machine and try some quilting. I'm waiting for the table runner kit from craftsy.
Another thing that inspired me was finding two old Blue Fish hand-painted linen dresses, maxi length so yards and yards of material with dragonflies and lilies, for $1 each. I still have my box of fabrics I've collected over the years. Also, too, I did an eBay search for 'linen remnants' and 'fabric remnants'. Some things are pricey designer upholstery fabric but if you are looking for a particular color palette this might be a resource.

RVInit wrote:That is such a great idea. I think I will make a trip to the local thrift shop sometime soon. Yes, there is some serious yardage in a long dress and a man's shirt, for sure. And already preshrunk, manufacturing chemicals washed out and soft to boot. Sounds like a winner.

kate520 wrote:Y'all have inspired me to break out the machine and try some quilting. I'm waiting for the table runner kit from craftsy.
Another thing that inspired me was finding two old Blue Fish hand-painted linen dresses, maxi length so yards and yards of material with dragonflies and lilies, for $1 each. I still have my box of fabrics I've collected over the years. Also, too, I did an eBay search for 'linen remnants' and 'fabric remnants'. Some things are pricey designer upholstery fabric but if you are looking for a particular color palette this might be a resource.

I love this place. ❤

I LOVE Blue Fish clothing! I would probably have to re-style those instead of just cutting them up.

Maybenaut wrote:Just finished this one last night. I took Annie Unrein's "The Ultimate Travel Bag" course on craftsy.com. I learned so much working on this project. The inside seams are bound with a contrasting color, and I'm still not precise enough to turn the binding and get nice even stitches on both sides, so I turned the binding by hand, just like I would a quilt.

Wowza! Looks great to me!

"The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press." - Ida B. Wells-Barnett, journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, feminist and founder with others of NAACP.

Maybenaut, you and I are taking some of the same courses. I am signed up for that one and watched it all the way through so far. My typical habit is to watch it all the way through first, then download the material and read through it all, then work on the project. I often will watch the course again, one step at a time, or if it's something I do often I will watch the whole section to get to the next section, etc. Your bag is fantastic! I will look for it on Craftsy and leave you a proper comment if you posted it in projects. I enjoy seeing the fabrics that other people have chosen for their projects, it stimulates the creative juices to see other people's work. Yours is exceptional - everything you have shared here has been fabulous!

I am currently working on the carry all for my Mom. I ran into an issue that I bought the rectangular "rings" for the strap from Joann and of course the size marked on the package was the outside dimension, which is not really standard. So, the inside diameter was not large enough. I went to bed aggravated, then, I remembered that I have a small stash of bag making supplies that I purchased either because it was on sale or because I needed a $2.99 item and couldn't find it anywhere except online, so I bought a few other things so I wouldn't be charging 2.99 on my debit card - you know, more is better!! Anyway, I got out of bed, pulled out my stash box, sure enough, not only did I find that I already had the right size, purchased a couple of years ago, but, they are even the best finish (color) possible for my fabric. So, I'm happy again.

Gotta go. Mom is having surgery in a week and I promised she would have the carry all to take some items to the hospital.

"I know that human being and fish can coexist peacefully"
--- George W Bush

RVInit wrote:That is such a great idea. I think I will make a trip to the local thrift shop sometime soon. Yes, there is some serious yardage in a long dress and a man's shirt, for sure. And already preshrunk, manufacturing chemicals washed out and soft to boot. Sounds like a winner.

RVInit wrote:That is such a great idea. I think I will make a trip to the local thrift shop sometime soon. Yes, there is some serious yardage in a long dress and a man's shirt, for sure. And already preshrunk, manufacturing chemicals washed out and soft to boot. Sounds like a winner.

"[Moderate] doesn't mean you don't have views. It just means your views aren't predictable ideologically one way or the other, and you're trying to follow the facts where they lead and reach your own conclusions."
-- Sen. King (I-ME)

Your bag looks great. Ditto on the ties, very nice touch! Very very cool.

I finished my Mom's caddy yesterday. I was disappointed with the binding, I cut it the size the pattern indicated and found it too be somewhat too large, which made a problem when it was turned over to the right side. Basically, the binding is used to attach the sides together, a unique construction method. I will definitely make another one, it's really nice, but, I will cut down the width of the binding on my next one.

"I know that human being and fish can coexist peacefully"
--- George W Bush

Binding is hard! I've discovered that a lot of things factor in to the exact width it needs to be, and the width might vary even within the project depending on how many layers of fabric/batting/stablizer you're turning the binding over. And, of course, the biggest variables (for me, at least) appear to be experience and patience.

I'm still playing around with binding techiques. I have a binding foot for my Bernina, and it works fine putting a very narrow binding on a one-layer sammich with a flat edge. But it is absolutely useless on curves and bags with quilted pockets. I saw a youtube video on using the lap seam foot to put on binding. It works perfect when sewing the binding to the project, and works perfect when turning the binding on straights on straights but not around curves. Next time I'm going to try the lap seam foot for sewing the binding on and turning the binding on the straights, then tackling the curves by hand -- either hand sewn ir basted then machine stitched over.

Binding is hard! I've discovered that a lot of things factor in to the exact width it needs to be, and the width might vary even within the project depending on how many layers of fabric/batting/stablizer you're turning the binding over. And, of course, the biggest variables (for me, at least) appear to be experience and patience.

I'm still playing around with binding techiques. I have a binding foot for my Bernina, and it works fine putting a very narrow binding on a one-layer sammich with a flat edge. But it is absolutely useless on curves and bags with quilted pockets. I saw a youtube video on using the lap seam foot to put on binding. It works perfect when sewing the binding to the project, and works perfect when turning the binding on straights on straights but not around curves. Next time I'm going to try the lap seam foot for sewing the binding on and turning the binding on the straights, then tackling the curves by hand -- either hand sewn ir basted then machine stitched over.

This is the worst binding job I have ever done. The top of all the pockets and tops of the various pieces are all fine, I found the widths of those bindings to be appropriate and they look fine. It is the binding to attach the front and back pieces to the long piece that becomes the bottom and sides. I attached it to the "bottom" (the part that you don't really see) and everything was great. Then....when it came to bringing it around to the other side - that's when I realized that it was too wide. At that point I had to decide to either remove it, or just accept that it's not going to look very good. I tried to fold it over double, but that wasn't quite enough. Because I wanted my Mom to be able to take it with her, and she was really excited to get it, I just had to accept it like it was. I am going to make her another one and cut it at least 1/4 inch less in width. I love the caddy, it's really sturdy, the sides stand up nicely (I used Soft and Stable) and it's a great size, not too big, not too small. I also like the inside pockets. They took forever to make because you have to mark the stitch lines on both sides. Most of my markers have dried up, so I had to use chalk, which rubs off when you do the other side. So...I marked one side and then basted it, then I marked the other side. Taking out those basting stitches slowed things down a lot. Needless to say, I ordered one of the marking pens that Annie uses in the class.

"I know that human being and fish can coexist peacefully"
--- George W Bush

A hint about doing binding, or maybe two hints....
Binding us usually cut at 2" or 2 1/4" for a regular quilt regardless of what weight batting you use. I would probably start with a 2 1/4" to cover 2 layers of quilt, like assembling the front and sides. I can't imagine it taking anything wider than that if your going to stitch it in the ditch or by hand. The wider binding, once I saw it was too wide, I would have probably done it with a decorative stitch so it looked intentional.

After you stitch the binding to the front of the quilt (or whatever) press it towards the edge all the way around. Flip it over and finger turn it and press that so it lays where you want the finished edge to be. Even if you use pins or quilt clips, pressing the binding first will show you where the seam allowances need to be graded and you know exactly where the edge of the binding will fall on the back.

I had to go look up what a lap seam foot is. I've never heard it called that and I use mine a fair amount making costumes.

The product that I used in between the fabric layers is called Soft and Stable. It's a little on the pricey side, but I think really worth it when you are making a bag where you want the sides to stand up. I didn't do anything special for the photo, the sides really do stand up. The Soft and Stable is relatively thin, too,so it's not terribly bulky to sew through.

And thank you for the compliments. It's not my best work as far as execution, which makes me sad. I had all the pieces perfectly done, carefully measured, each piece fit with the others, etc. Until that damn too wide binding. And in spite of my praise for the Soft and Stable, trying to remove stitches to cut the binding down would have taken me a day because the stitching does end up pretty well embedded into the fabric, making them hard to remove. If it weren't for the fact that I had promised it would be done in time to take it to her this weekend I would have taken it off and cut off 1/4 inch or cut fresh binding. Oh, well. I told her only look at the parts that look good.

"I know that human being and fish can coexist peacefully"
--- George W Bush

RVInit wrote:The product that I used in between the fabric layers is called Soft and Stable. It's a little on the pricey side, but I think really worth it when you are making a bag where you want the sides to stand up. I didn't do anything special for the photo, the sides really do stand up. The Soft and Stable is relatively thin, too,so it's not terribly bulky to sew through.

RVInit wrote:The product that I used in between the fabric layers is called Soft and Stable. It's a little on the pricey side, but I think really worth it when you are making a bag where you want the sides to stand up. I didn't do anything special for the photo, the sides really do stand up. The Soft and Stable is relatively thin, too,so it's not terribly bulky to sew through.

Is it thicker or thinner than Peltex?

It is thicker than Peltex but what I really love about it is it is really soft. If you are making a bag where you sew it inside out, after turning with the Soft and Stable you have no creases. I once saw a bag made by a woman who spent large dough on her fabric, zippers, etc - she bought designer fabric. She used some kind of stiff interfacing to make the bag sturdy, but you could see all the creases from where she turned the bag right side out.

Edit: Here is a video someone did where she shows the product and talks a little about it. It comes in black and white. One caution. I was a little disappointed in the last piece that I bought because it was not as wide on one end and I had to dig in to my second bag, which I had purchased to mae something else. The size I bought was supposed to be 18 x 58. It was 18" on one end and it tapered down the entire side down to about 14 1/2". https://youtu.be/__EIdvew52s

"I know that human being and fish can coexist peacefully"
--- George W Bush

RVInit wrote:The product that I used in between the fabric layers is called Soft and Stable. It's a little on the pricey side, but I think really worth it when you are making a bag where you want the sides to stand up. I didn't do anything special for the photo, the sides really do stand up. The Soft and Stable is relatively thin, too,so it's not terribly bulky to sew through.

Is it thicker or thinner than Peltex?

It is thicker than Peltex but what I really love about it is it is really soft. If you are making a bag where you sew it inside out, after turning with the Soft and Stable you have no creases. I once saw a bag made by a woman who spent large dough on her fabric, zippers, etc - she bought designer fabric. She used some kind of stiff interfacing to make the bag sturdy, but you could see all the creases from where she turned the bag right side out.

Edit: Here is a video someone did where she shows the product and talks a little about it. It comes in black and white. One caution. I was a little disappointed in the last piece that I bought because it was not as wide on one end and I had to dig in to my second bag, which I had purchased to mae something else. The size I bought was supposed to be 18 x 58. It was 18" on one end and it tapered down the entire side down to about 14 1/2".https://youtu.be/__EIdvew52s

That's a shame -- did you notify byannie.com or wherever you got it? It really shouldn't be that way.